Totally synthetic affinity reagents

Abstract

A method for producing heterofunctional binding fusion proteins termed Totally Synthetic Affinity Reagents (TSARs) is disclosed. TSARs are concatenated heterofunctional proteins, polypeptides or peptides comprising at least two functional regions: a binding domain with affinity for a ligand and a second effector peptide portion that is chemically or biologically active. In one embodiment, the heterofunctional proteins, polypeptides or peptides further comprise a linker peptide portion between the binding domain and the second active peptide portion. The linker peptide can be either susceptible or not susceptible to cleavage by enzymatic or chemical means. Heterofunctional binding reagents as well as methods for using the reagents for a variety of in vitro and in vivo applications are also disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A peptide which binds specifically to calmodulin and consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 135. 
     
     
       2. A peptide which binds specifically to calmodulin, and consisting of an amino acid sequence which contains one or more substituted amino acids relative to the sequence of SEQ ID NO 135, in which each substituted amino acid is selected from a class of amino acids of similar polarity to the amino acid residue replaced by the substituted amino acid in SEQ ID NO 135. 
     
     
       3. A protein which binds specifically to calmodulin, and comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO 135.